NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonight’s 9 pm ET show. Subscribe to War Notes here.  

Zelensky visit: President Trump spent a while at the top of his Cabinet meeting laying out the terms for a possible peace deal between Ukraine and Russia ahead of Zelinsky’s visit to the White House on Friday. 

• Don’t wait: The Biden forever war foreign policy types are already shellacking Trump over a deal they haven’t seen.
  • Although The New York Times is out with what they “think” is in the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal. 
• We’ll have former Amb. Steven Pifer on tonight. 

Newsom watch: Gavin Newsom wants to reinvent himself before he goes to Iowa in 2028.

• Has reinventing yourself ever worked in politics?
• Watch the cringe announcement of Newsom’s podcast here. 

Overplaying Their Hand

There is no more self-important group of people in America than White House correspondents – trust me – I used to be one. 

• Said group is now trying to square their desire to paint President Trump as a threat to the free press with the fact that he has answered more questions from the press than any president in history.
  • The statistics from the National Journal are insane.
    • Questions taken by presidents in their first month:
      • President Obama: 161 questions
      • President Trump (2017): 199 questions
      • President Biden: 141 questions
      • President Trump (2025): 1,009 questions
• Today, Trump had an hour and five minute Q&A with the press during his first Cabinet meeting … more access than we have ever seen. 
• Yet the White House Correspondents’ Association is aghast because the White House took back control of what journalists are in the press “pool.”
  • To be clear, this isn’t about the White House briefing room or press conferences or the South Lawn when Trump walks to Marine One. 
  • This is about the limited group that gets into the Oval Office or a seat on Air Force One to represent all journalists.
  • The White House Correspondents’ Association kept the pool as a small group of mostly all exclusive legacy media outlets.
    • The White House says that will now change.
• The WHCA is livid, saying in their official statement, “This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”
  • You mean like how CNN asked if Fox News should be removed from the White House press pool back in March of 2021?
    • “Should it be a part of the White House press pool, you know, should it be afforded the privileges that come with news gathering?”
• Be fair: The WHCA overplayed their hand – they claim to be a “non-partisan” group.
  • Yet Eugene Daniels is their president.
    • You tell me if Eugene is non-partisan after you click here. 
    • Find more about Eugene from his Instagram account here.
    • No doubt: Eugene is leaving the left-leaning Politco for the overtly progressive and anti-Trump MSNBC.
      • Would Biden’s White House have let Pete Hegseth decide who was in Biden’s pool? 
• Fair question: Why on earth would Trump’s White House allow this guy – and his association – to decide who’s covering the president?

Look back: These are the same correspondents who called concerns about former president Joe Biden’s health “conspiracy theories.”

Moral high ground: When you have an overt partisan like Eugene Daniels as the WHCA president, you give up your right to be called “non-partisan” 

• When the Associated Press sues over access to Air Force One on First Amendment grounds – you lose all credibility.

Self-importance continues: The editor of The Washington Post’s opinion page just resigned.

• He is upset because the opinion page would now champion “personal liberties & free markets” – GASP – the horror … let’s talk about things that created America.
  • Jeff Bezos, the paper’s owner, explained his thinking here.
    • Slow clap for David Shipley – the former editor and now hero of the resistance. 
  • Back to the news: Why are personal liberties and free markets offensive?
    • Seriously? 

Reality check: Opposing Trump is now more important to many “journalists” than their own credibility – Trump isn’t destroying the legacy media – they are destroying themselves. 

• It’s sad to see. 

Money: Five bucks says Chris Cillizza disagrees with me – tune in tonight. 

Paycheck to Paycheck Voters

Speaking of the press’ credibility, when was the last time you heard about “paycheck to paycheck voters”?

• They decided the election – Frank Luntz told us that over and over.
• But the press seems far more interested in “warnings” over what Elon Musk is cutting – curious. 
• Gallup is out with America’s latest views on the economy, pre-election vs. post-election:
  • Democrats now say the economy is getting worse. (+38 vs. -87)
  • Republicans now say it’s getting better. (-81 vs. +55)
  • Independents are basically the same. (-38 vs. -39)

Republicans aren’t suburban college-educated whites anymore – they are working class and very often minorities without college degrees. 

We’ll have Luntz on tonight about whether Democratic “resistance” to DOGE and laying off government employees is the way to go. 

• Bonus round: Democrats are reportedly shifting their fire to hammer Republicans over coming cuts to Medicaid – Luntz will tell us if that is a better strategy. 

“Egg-spensive”

The real reason we can’t fix egg prices will blow your mind.

• Continued bird flu outbreaks across America mean the killing of more than a hundred million chickens to contain the virus.
  • Less chickens = less eggs = higher prices, averaging around $8 per dozen. 
• Cure bird flu and the price of eggs come down.
  • The simple cure is to vaccinate all the chickens.
    • Farmers whose chickens produce eggs love this. 
    • But you would have to vaccinate the broiler chickens made for meat, too, and the broiler chicken farmers don’t want that.
      • Because it hurts their ability to export chicken meat.
• Full disclosure: I am not a chicken farmer, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express, but I did listen to an excellent podcast on the subject – and you should listen, too.
  • The Wall Street Journal’s podcast, The Journal, is out with a new episode called, “An Eggspensive Dilemma.”

The New York Times thinks something more sinister is going on. 

• They headline, “ Is Bird Flu the Only Reason Egg Prices Are Soaring?”

Another plan: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins writes, “My Plan to Lower Egg Prices” in her new Wall Street Journal piece. 

Watch tonight: John Boyd, head of the National Black Farmers Association, joins us on whether we have high egg prices because Tyson Foods just wants to send chicken meat overseas.

Tune into “On Balance with Leland Vittert” weeknights at 9/8 CT on NewsNation. Find your channel here. 

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation.